10 Tech inspired lesson ideas that your students can do the old fashioned way

This video says something we all know: teachers need to respond to the needs of our students in our ever-changing society. Unfortunately, we don’t live in an ideal world where technology is always readily available.

If you’re reading this I can only assume that, like me, you want to integrate more technology in your daily teaching. Let’s face it: that’s not as easy as it sounds. If your school is anything like mine, there are days when it’s difficult to get your students in the computer lab. As time goes on I realize more and more that I have to get creative if I want to integrate the 21st century into my lessons.

So I’ve prepared a list of lessons that I have personally used in my classroom when technology was unavailable. Desperate times call for desperate measures, right? All these lessons require is a pen and a piece of paper.

Technology-inspired lessons (texting, etc)

1) Rewriting a scene from a book or play using text messages

2) Write a twitter message to summarize a topic in your class using the 140 character limit. Students need to get creative, using netspeak and concentrating their ideas. This can be used for absolutely any subject.

3) Write a blog post about a subject of interest

4) Create a series of twitter/facebook updates that outline the progress of a major event in history (ie. World War 2).

5) Write an article that convinces your teacher why you should be allowed to use an ipod (or other forbidden technology) in your school.

6) Create a facebook profile for a historical figure/ character from a book

7) Create a storyboard for a youtube video that will teach a concept. This will work in almost any subject.

8) Write the script for a podcast (about anything!)

9) Make a playlist of songs for an event in history, or a novel

10) Write a text message to your best friend telling them what you learned today in school.

I can tell you that all 10 of these lessons were well received by my students, and that they were all done with a degree of quality and thoughtfulness that I wouldn’t have received if I’d asked them to simply write an essay or respond to questions from the textbook. I am constantly on the lookout for more lessons that I can add to this list. If you have one I’d love to hear from you! Please feel free to leave a comment and send some of those ideas this way. 🙂